Player Ratings thread

1st test

Cook 6 - above average performance based surprisingly enough on captaincy. Took some top catches
Lyth 4 - jury's still out and i think they've booked into the bed & breakfast
Ballance 5 - did actually make some important runs, forgettable they may have been
Bell 5 - probably the same impact as Ballance, regardless of how much nicer his 50 looked
Root 9 - actually jesus
Stokes 7 - good partnerships in both innings. Bowled tidily
Buttler 6 - critics have gone very quiet about his keeping despite the difficult surface
Ali 8 - runs and wickets. the icc player rankings now consider him a better allrounder than Tim Southee. I'm sure he'll be thrilled
Broad 8 - pick of the bowlers, was sublime on the 4th morning, and pretty good the rest of the time
Wood 7 - stay fit please
Anderson 7 - new ball etc etc

Warner 5 - same score as Ballance
Rogers 7 - copped the most testing of the bowling in both innings, top scored anyway
Smith 5 - meh test all round
Clarke 4 - must be one of his worst matches in recent times
Voges 4 - meh
Watson 4 - man there were a lot of just-about-sub-par performances in the Aus batting order. At least Watson has made it kinda his thing
Haddin 2 - snrk
Johnson 3 - not sure how much his innings - after the game was over - was worth to give him points over Haddin. Just as much to blame for England's big total first up
Starc 7 - took wickets with top deliveries. Think people have been a bit harsh on him
Hazlewood 7 - solid
Lyon 8 - pick of the Aus attack, got by far the most out of the wicket. Mixed it up nicely

Thinking about it in terms of player performance, one of the main reasons this has to be Watson's last test for me is that I really don't think he played that badly, relative to his capabilities. Unlike a lot of the Australian batsmen he didn't get out playing a stupid shot, he applied himself well with the bat and got in during both innings, batting at a pretty testing time against good bowling when other players were getting out, played a few nice shots when the ball was there to hit etc and didn't play and miss too much. Basically he looked to be in pretty good form and working hard, following on from making runs in the warmups. Then he just missed a straight one. With the ball he did okay but wasn't given a lot of overs, definitely should have bowled more in the first innings given the circumstances and why he was picked, but if Clarke didn't throw him the ball that much during this test he's not going to be bowling more throughout the series. Where I can see Smith, Clarke etc having much better games, Watson is more in the Lyon and Rogers camp of playing about as well as I can see them playing in the series, and his output just wasn't good enough. He's just not going to get any better as a player, it's time to either pick a sixth specialist batsman or pick Mitchell Marsh.

Cook 6 - above average performance based surprisingly enough on captaincy. Took some top catches
Lyth 4 - jury's still out and i think they've booked into the bed & breakfast
Ballance 5 - did actually make some important runs, forgettable they may have been
Bell 5 - probably the same impact as Ballance, regardless of how much nicer his 50 looked
Root 9 - actually jesus
Stokes 7 - good partnerships in both innings. Bowled tidily
Buttler 6 - critics have gone very quiet about his keeping despite the difficult surface
Ali 8 - runs and wickets. the icc player rankings now consider him a better allrounder than Tim Southee. I'm sure he'll be thrilled
Broad 8 - pick of the bowlers, was sublime on the 4th morning, and pretty good the rest of the time
Wood 7 - stay fit please
Anderson 7 - new ball etc etc

Warner 5 - same score as Ballance
Rogers 7 - copped the most testing of the bowling in both innings, top scored anyway
Smith 5 - meh test all round
Clarke 4 - must be one of his worst matches in recent times
Voges 4 - meh
Watson 4 - man there were a lot of just-about-sub-par performances in the Aus batting order. At least Watson has made it kinda his thing
Haddin 2 - snrk
Johnson 3 - not sure how much his innings - after the game was over - was worth to give him points over Haddin. Just as much to blame for England's big total first up
Starc 7 - took wickets with top deliveries. Think people have been a bit harsh on him
Hazlewood 7 - solid
Lyon 8 - pick of the Aus attack, got by far the most out of the wicket. Mixed it up nicely

Pretty much. I suppose Root only loses that point for dropping Rogers yesterday.
But I think Lyth's safe enough whatever happens at Lord's.

Thinking about it in terms of player performance, one of the main reasons this has to be Watson's last test for me is that I really don't think he played that badly, relative to his capabilities. Unlike a lot of the Australian batsmen he didn't get out playing a stupid shot, he applied himself well with the bat and got in during both innings, batting at a pretty testing time against good bowling when other players were getting out, played a few nice shots when the ball was there to hit etc and didn't play and miss too much. Basically he looked to be in pretty good form and working hard, following on from making runs in the warmups. Then he just missed a straight one. With the ball he did okay but wasn't given a lot of overs, definitely should have bowled more in the first innings given the circumstances and why he was picked, but if Clarke didn't throw him the ball that much during this test he's not going to be bowling more throughout the series. Where I can see Smith, Clarke etc having much better games, Watson is more in the Lyon and Rogers camp of playing about as well as I can see them playing in the series, and his output just wasn't good enough. He's just not going to get any better as a player, it's time to either pick a sixth specialist batsman or pick Mitchell Marsh.

Thinking about it in terms of player performance, one of the main reasons this has to be Watson's last test for me is that I really don't think he played that badly, relative to his capabilities. Unlike a lot of the Australian batsmen he didn't get out playing a stupid shot, he applied himself well with the bat and got in during both innings, batting at a pretty testing time against good bowling when other players were getting out, played a few nice shots when the ball was there to hit etc and didn't play and miss too much. Basically he looked to be in pretty good form and working hard, following on from making runs in the warmups. Then he just missed a straight one. With the ball he did okay but wasn't given a lot of overs, definitely should have bowled more in the first innings given the circumstances and why he was picked, but if Clarke didn't throw him the ball that much during this test he's not going to be bowling more throughout the series. Where I can see Smith, Clarke etc having much better games, Watson is more in the Lyon and Rogers camp of playing about as well as I can see them playing in the series, and his output just wasn't good enough. He's just not going to get any better as a player, it's time to either pick a sixth specialist batsman or pick Mitchell Marsh.

England:
Cook - 4/10 He is good at captaining but it stops there in my mind
Lyth - 3/10 remember 5 is average, he is definitely worse than average
Ballance - 5/10 getting sixty odd saved him
Bell - 6/10 given his experience and his sixty I think he is key too england but is out of form
Root - 9/10 unbreakable
Stokes - 6/10 can stuff up australias confidence so quickly but his bowling lets him down, terrible action means he slants across pads
Butler - 4/10 don't rate him at all really batting wise, but at lease he didnt drop the game
Ali - 8/10 deserves to be a top 6 batsmen, good whilst not being great with the ball but picked up 3 or 4 absolutely key wickets
Broad - 4/10 wastes the new ball compared to jimmy, can't bat anymore but puts the balls in a good spot and his height is an advantage
Wood - 4/10 he could be somethying big if someone took him aside and fixed up his run up, currently not so usefull though
Anderson - 10/10 best swing bowling with that second new ball I have EVER seen, rediculous stuff amazing player and couldnt give two ****s about his batting

Australia
Rogers - 6/10 good form of late, needs to step up in conditions he has mastered
Warner - 8/10 amazing player but can throw his wicket away
Smith - 8/10 inform but will be found out with his technique and once he looses form
Clarke - 7/10 once was amazing, not amazing anymore but still exceedingly good
Voges - 3/10 lucky once, needs to go though
Watson - 6/10 amazing technique, out of form, found out with LBW, good bowler, needs to find a few runs though or he goes
Haddin - 4/10 dropped that game, out of form with bat, annoyed me a lot how he threw his wicket away in fourth innings when we could have pushed for rain delay and therefore possibly draw
Johnson - 8/10 great bowler, out of form, batting is good and its nice to see him get runs
Starc - 6/10 next big thing but hes not phenomenal yet
Hazlewood - 7/10 also a future star especially if he could find 10 or 15 km more pace
Lyon - 6/10 great offspiner if the pitch is right for him, but if it isn't though he may be effective his wickets can come from slog artists taking him on which i suppose is from dot ball pressure and all.